Fourdrinier paper machine



SePt- 26, 1933. R. c. GERMANsoN 1,928,286

FOURDRINIER PAPER MACHINE Filed Aug. 15. 1950 Patented Sept. 26, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlc FOURDRINIER PAPER MACHINE Rudolph C. Germanson, Appleton, Wis., assignor to Paper Patents Company, Neenah, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Application August 15, 1930. Serial No. 475,435

Claims. (Cl. 92-44) This invention relates to improvements in By observation and experiment with various iFourdrinier paper machines. It has to do with speeds of wire, table-rolls of different diameter the means for supporting the Fourdrinier wire and number, `kinds and consistencies of paper in its travel from the breast roll to the first sucstock, I have discovered that the cause of the 5 ton box, and the principal objects of the invenfailure of the water to separate freely from the 60 I tion are to provide improved supporting means under side of the wire and the appearance of which will maintain the Fourdrinier wire level, wild or thin spots in the paper due to a disi. e., in a plane without sagging due to the load turbance of the web while undergoing formation thereon, while at the same time discharge or are due to acombination of circumstances. l0 separation of the white water from the under In the first place, in the case of any wire of the 65 side of the wire will be facilitated; to provide Fourdrinier type, there is always a tendency for also an arrangement whereby friction and wear the white water to adhere to the underside of the of the wire will be reduced to a minimum; to prowire due to surface tension. Hence, whatever vide an arrangement of such character that the means are employed to support the wire, they format'on of the web will be maintained or kept should so far as possible aid in breaking this sur- 70 intact and the formation of thin spots avoided; face tension and thus separating from the wire to enable the machine to produce paper of ne the water adhering to the under side thereof. qualityl at a higher speed than has heretofore I have also discovered that where the ordinary been considered practical; to provide an arrangetable-roll is employed, and particularly where a ment which shall be simple and economical in considerable quantity of water after leaving the 75 design and manufacture, and, in general, to prounder side of the wire strikes the surface of the vide an improved and eflicient apparatus or table-roll, said water, due to the speed of rotation equipment of the character specified. of the roll will not descend by gravityl down the In the drawing which illustrates the invention surface of the roll but will be carried up and into as applied to a Fourdrinier wire machine such the nip between the top of the roll and the under so as is employed in the manufacture of crepe side of the wire. Hence, due to the forward linear or analogous light weight papersspeed of such water into the nip of the roll, and Fig. 1 is a conventional side elevation of a mabecause water is virtually incompressible, considchine embodying my :invention: erable liquid pressure will be developed in the Fig. 2 is a plan view, partly in section, shownip of the roll. This pressure, of course, can be e5 ing one of the retculated or foraminous wirerelieved in one direction only, i. e., upwardly supporting rollers, and through the wire, with the result that water which Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3--3 of had previously been drained from the wire will Fig. 2. be forced back through the wire and upwardly v5 Referring to the drawing, 10 represents the into the inchoate web formation, causing a dis- 90 usual Fourdrinier wire, breast roll 11, couch roll turbance or partial destruction of the web forl 12, suction box 13, and 14 represents the tray or mation, as herein previously suggested.

trough under the upper stretch of the vwire for Also, as previously stated, a mere perforating receiving the white water which is drained out of or slotting of the table-roll is of no material bene- 4 the stock as the web is formed on the wire. fit for alleviating this condition, on account of 95 So far as I am aware, wherever the usual the fact that the liquid pressure developed in table-rolls have been employed for supporting the the nip is merely concentrated at the imperforate wire, in machines of this character, it has been areas of the roll. the universal practice to use rolls having an im- In experimenting with various kinds of surperforate or smooth exterior. I am aware also faces for the table-rolls, it was found that wild" 100 that attempts have been made to provide a series or thin areas in the formation could be materially of relatively large apertures, holes or slots in the reduced by using a foraminous roll surface reticucircumference of the table-rolls on the theory lated in suchA manner as to present relatively that water draining from the wire would be small areas of contact with the under side of the drained into the hollow table-roll and would pass wire, together with sufficient space between adja- 105 out through the holes at the bottom. However, cent points of contact to enable occluded water so far as I am aware, none of such attempts to pass readily into or through the periphery of have 'ever been successful, nor are such slotted or the table-roll. perforated table-rolls in use today to any ex- It was also discovered that when using a roll tent, if at all. having such a reticulated or net-like surface, the

full advantage of the same was not attained when using table-rolls of a diameter such as has been customary heretofore in machines of this character, i. e., about five inches. This was found to be due to the centrifugal forces developed by rolls of small diameter, which forces would tend to neutralize the beneficial effect of the reticulations. v

The drawing illustrates one form of reticulated table-roll which according to my invention has been successfully employed in the production of` light weight crepe or tissue paper. In the particular case mentioned, the distance between the breast and couch rolls was about twelve feet and the speed of the wire was about 520 feet per minute. Under these conditions, it was not necessary to use more than two table-rolls; in fact, the equipment operates very successfully with but a single table-roll spaced approximately midway between the breast roll and the suction box.

Although these reticulated rolls may be constructed in other ways, one of the best forms of construction comprises an'open grillage of helically arranged rods or wires 15, arranged according to a plural screw-thread, over which are arranged a somewhat similar series of helical rods or bars 16, the threads being of opposite inclination or pitch so as to form the grillage on which the actual supporting surface of the table-roll is secured. In order to provide a rigid structure. the supporting wires 15, 16, are preferably welded.

,brazed or soldered where they intersect each.

other, and, also, in order to provide the necessary bearing support, the wires at the ends of the table roll are suitably secured to a pair oi spiders 17, said spiders having studs or stubshafts 18 secured therein and rotating in the usual supporting bearings 19.

The grillage formed by the helical wires 15 and 16 furnishes a foundation for the actual surface of the table-roll, which, in the present instance, was found to work very satisfactorily when constructed of square-mesh brass wire screen 20 having about ten meshes to the inch. In place of making the rolls five inches in diameter, as is customary, these particular rolls in question were made with a diameter of ten inches, which appeared to be entirely satisfactory under the speed and other conditions mentioned.

In order to prevent overloading of the tableroll with the spray 21, it was found desirable to provide bailles 22 to deect the spray directly into the receiving trough 14 rather than to permit it to impinge upon the surface of the table roll. It was also interesting to observe that in respect of the relatively small amount of spray coming from the wire between thetop vedge of the baille 22 and the periphery of the table-roll, such spray appeared to pass directly-through the roll as indicated at 23 and did not appear to go lower than about halfway down between the top of the roll and its axis. Whether this phenomenon is of any importance except to indicate the efficiency' of the particular reticulation used, or the absence of adverse effect due to such centrifugal force, I do not know.

The described details of operation and construction are illustrative of only one application of my invention, the scope of which should be determined by reference to the appended claims, which should be interpreted as broadly as possible consistent with the state of the art.

I claim as my invention:

1. A Fourdrinier paper machine having a tableroll with a mesh-like supporting surface.

2. A Fourdrinier paper machine having a tableroll, the supporting surface of which is composed of wire mesh.

3. A Fourdrinier paper` machine having a tableroll, the supporting surface of which is composed of wire mesh, and the diameter of which roll, for speeds of five hundred or more feet per minute, is not materially less than ten inches.

4. A Fourdrinier paper machine having a h ollow table-roll, the wall of which is composed of wire mesh so as to permit water to pass inwardly through the wall over the entire surface thereof.

5. A Fourdrinier paper machine having a tableroll, the supporting surface of which roll is composed of spaced members o'f small surface area whereby the major. portion of the surface of said roll will consist of spaces between said members. said members being spaced approximately ten to the inch whereby the surface tension of the water may be broken so that water may quickly be drained from the under side of the wire and will pass through said spaces.

6. A device as defined in claim 5, wherein said roll is at least approximately ten inches in diameter ywhen the speed of the Fourdrinier wire is approximately five-hundred or more feet per minute.

7. A Fourdrinier paper machine having a table roll, the supporting surface of which roll comprises a wire-mesh screen of approximately ten mesh to the inch.

8. A device as defined in claim 7, wherein said table roll is not substantially less than ten inches when the speed of the Fourdrinier wire is approximately five-hundred or more feet per minute.

9. A table roll for supporting the wire of a Fourdrinier paper machine, comprising a supporting grille provided with a wire engaging covering, said covering embodying spaced members of small surface area adapted to engage the wire,

'the spaces between said members being such that water in the nip between the wire and the roll covering will quickly drain from the under side of the wire through said spaces and through the openings in the grille.

10. A table roll for supporting the wire of a Fourdrinier paper machine, comprising a supporting grille provided with a wire engaging covering, said covering embodying spaced members of small surface area adapted to engage the wire, the spaces between said members being such that lwater inthe nip between the wire and the roll covering will quickly drain from the under side 1 'of the wire through said spaces and through the openings in the grille, and the parts of the grille being spaced sufficiently from the wire engaging areas of the spaced members to prevent said parts from retaining water in the spaces between said members when in contact with the bottom rurface of the wire.

RUDOLPH C. GERMANSOII. 

